Earlier this summer, we got our first hands-on time with Star Wars Battlefront II, DICE’s follow-up to the pretty, yet unspectacular, rebooted Battlefront. The upcoming sequel is taking a lot of influence from DICE’s other shooter series Battlefield, which bodes well for multiplayer die-hards, but Battlefront II will be about more than just ground battles across the Star Wars saga. At GamesCom this week, DICE unveiled the first look at Starfighter Assault, the new space-based vehicle combat mode that ramps up the action from the first game in ways we’ve only dreamed.

The debut trailer for the new mode showed a lot of action without really delving into much detail about what was happening. The last Battlefront’s starfighter modes were fairly simple skirmishes above the skies of planets like Hoth and Tatooine, though later expansions added locales like Scarif and the Death Star. In Battlefront II, starting things out high above the planet of Fondor, where the Imperials build their Star Destroyers, bodes well for the depth of combat. Let’s face it, space is a more vast and exciting than any canyon run on a planet.

You’ll also notice beyond A-Wings, X-Wings, TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors, there are a lot more ships to choose from at the start. Y-Wings make the cut, as do TIE Bombers this time around. That kind of diversity opens up the battlefield quite a bit, giving players more ways to live out their Star Wars fantasies. Additionally, there are way more Hero ships beyond the Millennium Falcon and Slave I. Throughout the trailer, you can spot Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator, Poe Dameron’s Black One X-Wing, Yoda’s Jedi Starfighter, and even get your first true glimpse at Kylo Ren’s TIE Silencer.

Each of the ships, regardless of how similar they are to the “basic” fighters brings something different to the table. Maul’s ship has the speed and agility of an Interceptor, but also brings a cloaking ability along with it. Poe’s X-Wing has an area effect that boosts teammates he’s close to in space. The Falcon and Slave I remain mostly the same from the last game, where they worked as big tank-like ships to engage multiple foes at once. What’s great about this sequel though is how there can be multiple Hero ships on the battlefield at once now, not just one per side.

Like the core ground combat, these Hero vehicles can be unlocked when you score enough points to unlock them. Once you do, the next time you spawn, you can jump into the fray as one of your favorite characters. Not every ship was detailed at GamesCom, but you get a good enough idea of what's on the table. You can also see how different the Assault mode is with its multiple objectives thanks to this live game demo from EA’s conference. Try not to let the droll commentary dissuade you from watching. There’s a lot to learn about Battlefront II’s new mode.

Star Wars Battlefront II will be available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on November 17.